#085
“Hello, Manager-nim.”
“Oh, you’re here? What would you like to drink?”
Park Daeho, who had arrived at the cafe first and was waiting for Lee Yeonwoo, grabbed his wallet and stood up from his chair. Since he was the one who had made the appointment first, he had decided he would pay for this much at least.
“Two iced americanos. Please add four extra shots to one of them.”
“Yes, I’ll go order and come back. Please have a seat.”
It was quite a specific answer.
‘I don’t really need to drink coffee though…’
Park Daeho, thinking that Yeonwoo had included his drink in the order, ordered an iced americano with four extra shots and a light peppermint ice for himself before returning to his seat. It was around the time he placed the vibrating pager he received from the staff on the table along with his wallet.
“But what’s the story about Dojun hyung?”
As if he had no interest unless the topic was about Kang Dojun, Yeonwoo immediately got to the point.
“Ah, first…”
Park Daeho took out several photos of Kang Dojun that he had diligently searched through old albums yesterday to find. His plan was to put Yeonwoo in a good mood first, which would make it easier to persuade him later.
“Here. The photos of Dojun I mentioned yesterday.”
“…?”
Yeonwoo stared intently at the photos placed on the table.
Yesterday? What else did he say? More importantly, it’s hyung. Wow, he was really young. He even has baby fat. So cute. Is he giving these to me? Can I take them?
His thoughts were brief, and worried that Park Daeho might just show them and take them back, he quickly reached out and gathered the photos.
“Are you giving these to me?”
His gaze was still fixed on Kang Dojun’s photos.
“That’s why I brought them.”
“…It’s not my birthday today. Anyway, thank you.”
Yeonwoo searched for a place to carefully store the photos. Since card payments were possible with his phone, he regretted coming to the cafe lightly dressed without even a wallet.
He was afraid they might get wrinkled if he put them in his pocket, so he had no choice but to carefully arrange them on one side of the table.
Bzzzz- Bzzzz-
Just then, the vibrating pager buzzed to signal that the drinks were ready.
“I’ll go get them.”
“Thank you.”
Leaving Yeonwoo absorbed in the photos, Park Daeho went to get the drinks.
Yeonwoo, who had been admiring the youthful appearance of Kang Dojun in the photos, looked at Park Daeho blankly as soon as he noticed the drinks on the tray.
“Two americanos…”
“Ah, I’m going to drink the peppermint one. Yours has four extra shots added.”
Park Daeho personally brought over the drink and placed it in front of him. Then, struck by a sudden thought, he continued speaking.
“Ah, do you happen to drink two cups by yourself? They do refills here later too…”
“No, that’s not it. It’s for hyung.”
“…What?”
“What about Dojun hyung’s drink?”
For a moment, not understanding Yeonwoo’s answer, he froze in place while still holding out the drink.
“What… why would Dojun… I definitely texted you to come alone…”
“What? A text? I didn’t get anything like that.”
Yeonwoo checked his phone and apologized to Park Daeho.
“I’m sorry. Hyung must have checked the text and deleted it. Ah, hyung’s here.”
Then he spotted Kang Dojun through the open door and waved his hand.
Park Daeho turned around in surprise. Kang Dojun was standing right there.
“Sorry, I’m a bit late because there was nowhere to park.”
“Hey… why are you here.”
“Did you have a good talk with Yeonwoo?”
Though his lower face wasn’t visible due to the mask, Kang Dojun’s eyes were smiling. Was it just his imagination that it felt a bit eerie?
“Hyung, I got your photos too!”
Oblivious to Park Daeho’s feelings, Yeonwoo gathered the neatly arranged photos and showed them off to Kang Dojun.
“Really? That’s great. Do you like them?”
“Yes.”
At Kang Dojun’s words, Yeonwoo barely managed to suppress the corners of his mouth that wanted to rise. His face felt tingly, as if a smile might leak out at any moment.
“Right. Manager-nim didn’t think hyung was coming so he couldn’t order your drink. I’ll go order it now.”
“No. I’ll… I’ll go buy it again. Hey, Dojun. You just sit down.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Hyung, hyung, but you know what? When hyung was young…”
Park Daeho listened to their conversation over his shoulder as he went to the staff to order again.
“One iced americano please.”
Since the worst outcome would be the staff recognizing Kang Dojun, he felt more comfortable waiting in front and receiving the drink when it was ready. He silently praised himself for choosing a cafe with few people just in case.
‘That crazy bastard.’
As expected, they must have been together when he called yesterday. Even deleting the text message… if you knew the text was deleted, at least get angry! The backlash even reached Yeonwoo.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Suddenly, he felt pathetic for trying to stop Kang Dojun from going to the countryside.
‘What kind of wealth and glory was I trying to enjoy?’
He had been worried that his friend might make a hasty decision. Since it’s come to this, let the two of them figure it out and live well together.
“Your ordered drink is ready.”
“Thank you.”
Park Daeho placed the drink he brought back in front of Kang Dojun and scolded Yeonwoo in a deflated voice.
“Yeonwoo-ssi, you should get angry too if texts are deleted. Yesterday’s phone number I called is still there, right?”
Yeonwoo picked up his phone to search for the phone number and said,
“Oh, it’s not there. I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? I’m the one who deleted it. Daeho, if you have something to say, contact me.”
“No, aren’t you angry at all, Yeonwoo-ssi?”
Park Daeho ignored Kang Dojun’s words and questioned Yeonwoo. Yeonwoo looked at him with eyes that seemed to say he couldn’t understand at all.
‘This is why Kang Dojun is acting like that.’
His voice got a bit louder from frustration.
“He deleted texts and deleted numbers as he pleased!? Is that crazy bastard?”
Yeonwoo, who had been listening quietly, raised his eyebrows in anger.
“Our hyung isn’t a crazy bastard.”
“Ah…”
Park Daeho finally realized his mistake. In a crazy person’s eyes, another crazy person looks normal. Both of them were a bit off, so that’s why they clicked with each other.
“I see, that’s how it is.”
Having suddenly gained deep enlightenment, he muttered to himself.
Kang Dojun ignored Park Daeho and picked up Yeonwoo’s drink instead of his own coffee cup, taking a sip. Yeonwoo’s gentle eyes drooped in advance, expecting to be scolded.
“Don’t drink such bitter things again.”
He should have drunk it quickly before hyung could taste it… He usually had the habit of drinking quickly, but today he couldn’t because he was distracted by the photos.
Even though hyung told him not to eat such stimulating things, the habit was ingrained and couldn’t be easily changed.
Kang Dojun first learned about this habit when they ordered takeout snacks and Yeonwoo ate sundae. He was shocked to see him dip it so deeply in salt that you could hear the salt crystals crunching.
From what he observed later, it was the same with wasabi when eating sushi, drinking bitter coffee, and now that he thought about it, even the act of crunching candy seemed to be a similar tendency.
Kang Dojun switched his cup with Yeonwoo’s.
“Hyung, are you going to drink that?”
“Can’t help it.”
Yeonwoo’s eyes widened as if he’d seen a ghost. That bitter thing? No way. I must absolutely protect our hyung.
Yeonwoo struggled to defend his coffee. Kang Dojun downed the coffee in one gulp so that Yeonwoo couldn’t focus on it at all.
It felt like drinking a large amount of espresso.
“Don’t eat like this from now on.”
He realized that drinking it himself every time was an effective way to shock Yeonwoo.
“Water… I’ll get you some water.”
Yeonwoo quickly nodded and headed to the self-service bar.
Left alone with Park Daeho, Kang Dojun glared at him.
“What were you planning to do by calling Yeonwoo?”
He knew that when they finished eating and were paying, he had coaxed Yeonwoo to leave first. Even now, calling him and giving him photos – he needed to know what he was planning to say to Yeonwoo.
Park Daeho subtly avoided eye contact.
“Just… I was wondering if it wouldn’t be better for Yeonwoo-ssi to come up to Seoul and live there?”
Because he was unnecessarily fidgeting and reading the mood, his sentence ended with a questioning tone.
“He said he didn’t want to last time too.”
“I don’t know Yeonwoo-ssi’s opinion.”
“Yeonwoo is…”
“Hyung, here’s the water.”
“Thanks.”
Only after confirming that Kang Dojun drank the water did Yeonwoo feel relieved and observe the atmosphere between the two. It seemed like they had been talking about him, but he couldn’t figure out what topic they had brought up.
‘Hyung probably handled it well.’
However, he soon maintained an attitude of indifference. His belief that Kang Dojun wouldn’t do anything to harm him remained firm.
He fiddled with his phone to appeal that he wasn’t interested in the conversation, so the two could talk comfortably. Park Daeho called such a Yeonwoo and included him in the conversation.
“Yeonwoo-ssi, don’t you have any thoughts of living in Seoul? Are you planning to live with Dojun in the countryside?”
“…Me?”
Yeonwoo looked back and forth between Kang Dojun and Park Daeho.
‘So that was what the conversation was about?’
“I’ll do whatever hyung wants to do.”
If hyung suggested they live together in Seoul, he would hand over the beekeeping to Uncle Cheolsu and use the money to either continue his unfinished studies or prepare for job hunting. If they ended up living together in the countryside, he planned to expand the bee business to make a living.
Of course, whatever happened, Kang Dojun had reassured him many times not to worry about money.
“Living in the countryside doesn’t mean I’m completely quitting acting.”
Knowing what kind of worries Park Daeho had, Kang Dojun tried to persuade him.
“Even if I quit acting, I’ll still do CFs.”
If he wanted to act again later, he could do it then.
Since CFs kept coming in steadily due to the image he had built up, as long as he wasn’t forgotten by the public, he could return to acting anytime.
It wasn’t like he was thoughtlessly following Yeonwoo to the countryside either.
“So what you’re saying is, you won’t act but you’ll still do CFs?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you’re telling me to keep being your manager?”
“Don’t you want to? Isn’t being my manager comfortable?”
Park Daeho made a sound like he was exhaling air into the void, as if his throat was blocked with absurdity.
“Should I do it then?”
Yeonwoo asked Kang Dojun while stirring the ice with his straw.
“Would you like to?”
An immediate positive answer came from Kang Dojun.
Then they could keep staying together. Kang Dojun widened his eyes and praised him, asking how he came up with such a brilliant idea.
Park Daeho decided to give up thinking.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
